Wind of change
36% of Ireland’s electricity from turbines in January
WIND energy in Ireland is growing at a rapid rate with industry growth demonstrated by the high percentage of wind power that was used by the country last month.
Some 36 per cent of Ireland’s power was provided by wind in January, according to Wind Energy Ireland.
It means that over a third of our electricity last month was produced by wind power.
The latest figures show that the demand for electricity in January increased when compared to the same month last year, while the amount of electricity generated by wind farms was one of the highest ever recorded for the month of January.
Wind Energy Ireland spokesperson said: “The total electricity demand last month was 3,831 gigawatt-hours (GWH) of power and wind energy generated 1,379 GWH.”
Wind Energy Ireland chief Noel Cunniffe said: “This is a strong start to the year and we expect to see Irish wind farms building on their success in 2023, which was a record-breaking year for wind power generation.
“New wind farms, along with solar and battery projects, will be connecting before the end of 2024 which will further reduce Ireland’s emissions, but we really need to accelerate the delivery of onshore and offshore renewable projects if we are to achieve a zero-carbon society for Ireland.” average price of wholesale electricity
He added: “We hope to see the in comparison to January new Planning and Development 2023 is welcome news.
Bill enacted this year which will “Electricity generated from Irish help to modernise the Irish planning wind farms replaces expensive system. imported fossil fuels and by
“Resourcing must also be a top adding more wind power to the priority for Government as we system, we can cut our need more people with carbon emissions and the right skills in State cut our electricity agencies like An Bord bills.
Pleanála and the “Having an National Parks and affordable, reliable Wildlife Service to source of help achieve our electricity is wind energy targets. essential to our
“The quicker that everyday lives and projects can clear the the more domestic planning system, the clean electricity we sooner they can produce, can be built the more we and start delivering clean electricity can secure our supply of energy to power our homes, businesses and protect consumers from high and local communities.” energy prices that are driven by
The latest wind energy report fossil fuels.” found that the average Enterprise Minister
during€99.90 wholesale price of Simon Coveney electricity in yesterday visited a Ireland per megawatt-hour floating offshore wind farm in Scotland. January 2024 was
€99.90, down from A spokesperson for €162.16 the previous the minister said this year. was part of Ireland’s
Prices on days with target to have 5GW of the most wind power saw offshore wind in operation by the average cost of a megawatthour 2030. of electricity fall even further By 2040, the ambition is to have to €68.08 per megawatt hour, 20GW of offshore wind deployed rising to €130.30 on days when we with the target rising to 37GW by relied almost entirely on fossil 2050. fuels. Minister Coveney said: “This
Cunniffe said: “The fall in the visit has been hugely informative in terms of seeing at first hand the technology in operation.”
He added: “We also discussed the potential for collaboration between Ireland and Scotland on a range of offshore wind-focussed matters.”
The minister continued: “As we develop wind farms around our coast, there will be opportunities for local communities in terms of operating and maintaining these facilities as well as transporting workers to and from installations.”
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is currently developing Ireland’s first Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy and it is expected to be published next month.
Meanwhile, a battery plant capable of holding enough power to keep the lights on in around 75,000 homes for two hours has been installed at Poolbeg in Dublin.
The State’s largest energy storage project to date was launched on Wednesday following a €300m investment in sites from Dublin to Cork.
ESB partnered with Fluence, Kirby Group and Powercomm Group to deliver the 75MW battery project which will help provide grid stability.
They say the high-capacity batteries can store excess renewable energy for discharge when required, and in doing so, help to support Ireland in reaching its ambitious climate targets by 2030.